Eclipse
by UberSG-1Fan
Summary: While the SGC frantically continues its desperate search for Carter, Sam learns she is the key to her former captor's catastrophic plans and is forced to make a fateful decision. [Continuation of THE DARKER SIDE OF NIGHT].


**Eclipse  
**_By: Mary Beth House_

**_

* * *

_**

**_Previously, on Stargate SG-1: (Sorry, I couldn't help myself) _**

_Interior: SGC: Commissary:_

"Yeah, Daniel. I know all this stuff. The Vish'a and the Seret are going through a tough time post-Goa'uld reign and haven't quite figured out which territories belong to whom. Teal'c went to try help the Jaffa negotiate for land rights there since they didn't want to relocate to Dakara. I authorized the mission, remember?"

"Yes, of course, but…"

"So, why exactly is it you interrupted my dinner?" Jack interrupted.

"Why?" Daniel was surprised by the question. "Oh, I don't know. Massive territorial conflict on a global scale, incredibly tenuous circumstances… Little things like that."

"And this is unusual…how? We face this stuff all the time, Daniel. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that this kind of routine is, well, routine."

_Interior: SGC: Jack's office:_

"God, Jack, if you don't know why, then the one I've really been wasting my time, energy and emotions on is _you_." Sam reached down for the handle and started to pull the door closed.

"Alright!" Jack yelled out. "I…I'm in love with you."

Sam stood motionless in the doorway as his words reverberated in her mind. "What did you say?"

_Exterior: Reey'loth: deep in the woods:_

Sam slowly moved back and away, as she knew she had no choice but to try to find a better position. Jack recognized that she was trapped and bobbed back up to lay cover fire for her. But as careful as she was there was no way to avoid the inevitable, which came moments later. She wailed in agony as a blast struck her in her lower right side, throwing her violently to the ground.

"Sam!" Jack roared helplessly as he took out two more Jaffa then ducked for cover in the bushes. He knew there was no way to get to her at the moment, so he attempted to shift to a more strategic location to take out the four remaining Jaffa.

But it was not to be.

A staff blast hit Jack dead on into his chest and propelled him backwards, over the ledge and down the shadowy ravine.

_Interior: Reey'loth: Goa'uld Throne Room:_

"I'm not sure who ruled when, as the last Goa'uld left 70 years ago and most of the recordings regarding his reign were destroyed by my people after his departure. Which is why I was surprised to find this still intact," Meriset explained as he walked over and turned a concealed knob on the wall that opened a passage way into a secret chamber.

"It's a sarcophagus." Daniel was stunned by the discovery.

_Interior: Reey'loth: Seret Prison:_

Sam screamed in agony as a pain stick was rammed into and scorched the nerve endings of the back of her neck. Two men were holding her arms outward, restraining her movement. Finally, after several long agonizing moments, the pain stick was finally withdrawn as the Seret interrogator approached her. She was still reeling from the wound she received from the staff blast earlier and panted heavily from the torment just inflicted on her. Each breath evoked waves of shooting pain in her chest.

Her insolence infuriated the interrogator, who raised his hand to strike her. Sam closed her eyes and braced herself for the blow she was about to receive when his hand was caught mid-air by another.

"Enough!" a voice bellowed from behind her interrogator, as a shadowy figure stepped closer.

_Interior: Reey'loth: Goa'uld Throne Room:_

"Okay, Jack. Remember when I, uh, came into your office earlier?" Daniel asked.

"Vividly," Jack answered sardonically.

"I was going to tell you that I found several references to Zipacna in some of the images taken by the survey team. Since apparently Zipacna used this planet as a base at one time, well, it makes sense that Bavis may have decided to come here as a possible staging area to build up his empire."

"But, why would the Seret…" Jack started to ask, but a thought crossed his mind and he answered his own question, "…wait a minute. They don't know he's a Goa'uld."

_Interior: Reey'loth: Seret Prison:_

Sam looked up and grimaced at the sight of the hara'kash glowing ominously in Bavis's hand. "Oh, don't worry, my Samantha. I have too many plans for you. I'm not going to kill you…yet. But your suffering will provide me with a great deal of amusement. Unfortunately, my sarcophagus is located too far into Vish'a territory right now for me to access it so I will have to be very careful with you. I wouldn't want you to die before I have had my fill of torturing you and have learned everything I need to solidify my power. And I assure you – that time is far, far away."

_Exterior: Reey'loth: by the Stargate:_

Bavis turned toward Jack and gave him a taunting smile before he disappeared with Sam into the event horizon. Daniel rushed over to the DHD to see if he could get a reading on the address to which Bavis fled with Sam. But just as he got there, the stargate disengaged.

"Daniel? Did you see it?" Jack pleaded.

"No, Jack. I'm sorry. She's gone."

Jack, Teal'c and Daniel stood there without words as they stared mournfully at the stargate.

**And now for Stargate SG-1: Eclipse:**

* * *

Sam felt the glow of the morning sun warm her face as she lie still in her bed. The rose-scented air was humid so she was only partially covered by the sheets. She slowly opened her eyes to take in the ambiance. Not sure of where she was, her brow furrowed gently as she peeked her head up and surveyed her surroundings. She first noticed the beautiful cherry wood nightstand next to her head which held her red cell phone and sunglasses; and as her eyes panned the room she saw something else: an impeccably well set table off to the side, still layered with last night's used dinner wear and wine glasses.

At that moment, she heard a soft yawn and felt an arm pull around her waist.

"Mmm, good morning, Mrs. _O'Neill_," the low voice rumbled softly in her ear, with an emphasis on the surname. She held her left hand up and noticed that she was unconsciously twirling a gold band on her ring finger; and then she turned to face the source of the voice.

"Jack. Is that really you?" she voiced tentatively as he smiled and gently kissed her lower lip.

"Well, who else were you expecting to find in _our_ bed, hmm?" he mumbled as he continued nuzzling her neck. Sam was still unsure of where she was or how she got there. Something seemed off to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Something's wrong," she cautioned.

"Yes, I know," he replied regretfully as he began kissing a sensitive spot under her left ear.

"You feel it too?"

"Of course I do. We have to go to work today," Jack replied as his kisses trailed up her neck.

Sam sat up abruptly, holding the sheet to her chest and gently shook her head. "No, I don't mean that. I mean _this_," she gestured with arms as she spoke. "All of this. This place. I mean, doesn't everything seem a little off to you?"

Jack sat up next to her and brushed a wisp of hair from her eyes. "It could be all the wine we had last night," he suggested with a wry grin.

_Maybe, _she considered to herself. She did feel as though she had a hangover. As she sat there pondering, Jack pulled her head closer to his and kissed her gently on the mouth. He growled as he pulled away. "I wish we could just stay in bed; but we've both got a busy day ahead of us."

"We do?"

"Yeah, of course," Jack replied incredulously as he swung himself around to his side of the bed and walked over to the closet. "You've got that briefing with the bigwigs from the Pentagon regarding that stuff that's supposed to help Aris Boch's people lose their dependence for that liquid he drank. What was it called again?"

Still a little groggy, Sam rubbed her thumb against her forehead and strained to remember the name of the substance. "Uh, you mean roshnah?"

"Yeah, that's it; roshnah. And how does that new formula work?" he questioned casually as he slid his arms into a black t-shirt.

"What? Oh, uh, I don't know," she answered hesitantly. Sam had been aware that one of the science teams at Area 51 had made great strides in coming up with a viable alternative to roshnah, but she was not personally involved in the research.

"His people…their physiologies are resistant to Goa'uld implantation, aren't they?" he asked nonchalantly as he continued dressing.

"You _know_ they are," Sam replied warily, her sense of foreboding began to escalate in intensity.

Jack glided over to the bed and sat down next to her. He smiled warmly as he gently caressed her cheek. "How are you to make contact with Aris Boch to let him know about your discovery?" His voice was soft and loving but she sensed a dark undercurrent in the tone he used.

"Jack, what's this all about? You know I don't know anything about the research on the roshnah," she eyed him cautiously and clenched the sheet protectively against her body as he moved in closer and held her face in his hands.

"Oh yes you do, _Samantha._"

Then everything changed.

Jack's left hand pulled away and his wedding band glimmered in the sunlight as the grip from his right hand tightened like a vice. His face shuddered and morphed into that of her captor, a Goa'uld named Bavis. The warm, inviting surroundings of the bedroom disappeared and were replaced by the eerie setting of Bavis's chambers. Rather than sitting on a comfortable bed, she was now strapped to a metallic table staring up at the ceiling. The wedding band that moments ago glimmered in the morning light transformed into a hara'kash glowing threateningly over of her head.

"You have that information within you and I will have it, _my Samantha_," he snarled with a sinister grin as the hara'kash moved in closer to her forehead.

Sam's eyes widened in horror as she took in shallow breaths, trembling with fear. Then she closed her eyes tightly as she cried out, anticipating the pain.

But nothing happened.

After several long, tense moments, she finally opened her eyes and discovered that she was curled up against the left back corner of her cell. She had been all along. Sam held her arms up and confirmed that they were still bound together. She was perspiring profusely and shook uncontrollably as the images played over and over again in her mind. Now in a fully upright seated position, she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them securely, rocking back and forth in a ragged motion.

Her eyes darted back and forth, still unsure as to whether or not any of this was real or was she still being interrogated? And if she was really in her cell, what about the interrogation with Bavis? Was that a dream or a memory? And if it was a memory, when did it take place? Sam began to sense that she was losing track of what was real versus what was a hallucination; but she recognized the high probability that the experience she relived just now was a memory because of Bavis's frequent use of the hara'kash during her interrogations.

Up until eight and a half weeks ago, it had been years since she experienced any nightmares relating to the incident with Jolinar. The worst had been the few weeks after Jolinar had sacrificed herself for Sam, the emotions and images were so fresh and the loss was so deeply felt. It took both time and counseling for her to work her way out of that abyss. But since Bavis had uncovered that the hara'kash was one form of torture that terrified her most, he took great pleasure in using it during every interrogation. And since they were now at a location with a sarcophagus, he no longer trifled himself with the need to be careful to not kill her.

Sam rested her forehead on her knees and fought to regain control of her emotions. _I'm not sure how much longer I can do this_, Sam thought to herself, overcome by the unyielding awareness that her situation was completely hopeless.

"You'll do this as long as you have to, kid," she heard from the other side of the room. She turned her gaze toward the right back corner of the cell and saw a familiar individual crouching beside her.

"What does that mean, Dad? As long as _what_ takes?" she was emotionally spent. "I've already been here for months now. And it seems like there's no hope of rescue or, apparently, escape."

"Yeah, I know." Sam had attempted escape five days ago, and it cost her dearly. Jacob reached down and caressed her wrists which had been bound since her re-capture and were raw from the leather strapped around them. The sleeves from her prison garb helped alleviate some of the discomfort of the binding; that is, when she was physically able to tuck the fabric from her shirt underneath the straps as a kind of buffer. However, the material did little to obscure the bruises generated by the frequent visits of soldiers who wanted retribution for the actions she took during her escape attempt.

"I feel like whole parts of me are being stripped away and being replaced by these thoughts…these _feelings_…" she whispered, completely broken and physically battered.

"I know what you're feeling, Sam. The tremors, the emotions, the dark thoughts…they're all related to the withdrawal symptoms associated with overexposure to the sarcophagus. You've already made it through the worst of it. You have to keep on fighting."

"But, Dad, I _have_ been fighting…but I'm losing the battle," Sam thought back to her escape attempt; how the rage engulfed her to the point where she lost control and nearly beat one of the Jaffa guards to death. "What am I fighting for anyway? So I can stay alive and die some more to amuse Bavis? What's the point?"

Sam turned her head away and faced the entrance to her cell. With a macabre curiosity, she wondered how many times she had died in the last nine weeks; starting on Reey'loth when Bavis shot her with the zat gun, which killed her instantly due to her weakened state, through the interrogations which took place regularly and frequently. That is, until four days ago when they stopped abruptly. From what she could gather from the Jaffa guards, Bavis was away attending to business.

"There's no reason for you to spend a lot of time thinking about stuff like that, kid," Jacob chided softly, knowing what occupying her thoughts.

"Twenty-seven times," she mumbled aloud, the final death count being totaled in her mind.

"Sam, please listen to me."

"_Twenty-seven times_, Dad!" she lamented as she faced her father. "I'm serious; I'm warning you right now. I really don't know how much more of this I can take," the words stuck in her throat. She was not used to contemplating defeat; it went against her very nature to do so for any extended length of time. And these days, she thought about it often.

Jacob cocked his head to the side as a sympathetic smile tinged his lips. He leaned in closer to his daughter and stroked her face comfortingly. "You can take whatever he can dish out, Sam. You are an incredibly strong and capable woman and I have every confidence that you'll make it out of this okay. You know I believe in you and am very proud of you."

She grinned weakly and chuckled humorlessly. "And apparently on some level I must really believe what you're saying or you wouldn't be here right now telling me this." Sam took a deep breath as tears welled up in her eyes and she realized that she had calmed down a little. Thanks to her father's "presence," she had managed to regulate her breathing to some degree, but the shivering continued unrelentingly. "I miss you so much, Dad," she uttered feebly.

"Like I told you last week, I'm here for you now and I'm going to _stay here_ with you until you don't need me anymore."

She laughed ironically. "I hope you've got a lot of spare time on your hands, because I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Don't be too sure of that," Jacob pointed up at the door and she glanced up to see what he was gesturing toward. She observed one particular Jaffa eyeing her strangely. Again. He had shown up in her cell block two days ago, and seemed to make it a point to stop by and look in on her from a distance. Perhaps he thought she was too out of it to have noticed in the first place; and he would not have been too far wrong since she was in the midst of some very serious withdrawal symptoms at the time. After a few more moments, he turned and walked away.

He seemed different from the other guards; but more than that, he seemed familiar. Not like a friend would be or even an acquaintance; but rather more like someone she perhaps had met in passing during her time with SG-1. Sam looked back to where her father was crouching to get his opinion as to who this Jaffa might be, but he was no longer there.

And just as she was giving more thought as to where she might know him from, he returned. This time, he approached her cell and relieved the guard standing in front of the energy barrier that blocked her exit. Sam scowled slightly at the new development. This was the first time he had come within ten feet of her cell.

Several long minutes passed after the other Jaffa guard had left them alone before either of them spoke.

"Are you Samantha Carter of the Tau'ri?" he muttered in a hushed tone, breaking the silence.

Sam didn't respond at first, not altogether certain if what she was hearing was real or imagined.

"Did you hear what I said? I asked if…"

Sam was stunned by the question and her eyes widened in disbelief. "Uh, yes…I am Samantha Carter," she offered tentatively. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"Who I am is unimportant for now," he responded dispassionately. "All you need to know is that I am working out a means for your escape."

Sam became suspicious at the offer. "Why would you want to help me? Won't your _god_ be angered by your betrayal?"

"Bavis is not a god," the man retorted quickly, putting her at ease to some extent, "and my reasons for helping you are not altogether altruistic. I will require a favor of you in return."

"What kind of favor?" she inquired apprehensively.

He was about to comment but stopped as the guard he had relieved for a break headed down the corridor and edged closer to their position. "We cannot speak of this now. Do you agree to my terms, or not? Answer now. It is your last chance."

Sam hated the idea of agreeing to something before knowing what it was; but at the same time, she recognized she had no real choice. "Yes…I agree."

"Timing is critical. Be ready to leave in six hours," he whispered hastily as the other guard closed in. Her familiar stranger hadn't looked at her during the entire discourse before turning to leave. Sam studied the other guard closely for signs he had overheard any part of their discussion, but it was clear by his demeanor that he had not.

_Six hours_, she thought to herself apprehensively. _Six hours until I'm out of here and committed to do something as payment for my release_. Sam prayed that whatever her obligation was, it wouldn't be something she would live to regret.

* * *

SG-11 rushed through the stargate and headed up towards the conference room where Jack was busy coordinating with SG teams 13 and 14. The room was abuzz with activity and Daniel and Teal'c entered hesitantly to watch and offer support from the sidelines.

SG-11 hurried past Daniel, almost knocking him over, and maneuvered closer to their CO.

"Sir!" Captain Rickett said with a salute. Jack returned the salute promptly. "I regret to inform you that we did not find any sign of Colonel Carter. I'm sorry, sir."

The report wasn't a surprise. Over the last several weeks, Jack had heard the same words uttered by various SG teams upon their return from their recon missions. He dismissed SG-11 and turned back toward the other teams. "Alright. That eliminates P5X-993 from Daniel's list," he conceded as he drew a red line through that planet's designation.

Just then, Sergeant Harriman entered the room and waited to be acknowledged.

"Yes, Sergeant?"

"Sir, I have General Ransom on the line. He says it's important."

"Tell him you couldn't reach me, Walter."

"Sir?" Walter replied dubiously.

"You heard me. I'm in a meeting right now and I'll get back to him as soon as I can."

Walter hesitated for a moment then complied. "Yes, sir."

Sergeant Harriman brushed past Daniel and Teal'c and gave them a worried look as he proceeded out of the room.

Daniel glanced over at Teal'c, who was already looking at him. Their eyes communicated what words did not.

Jack was in serious trouble.

* * *

"Well, this is it. You made it," Jacob congratulated.

"It's not over yet, Dad. That Jaffa, or whoever he is, hasn't come back yet and it's been at least six hours. What if he got caught or what if this is some sort of trap that Bavis set up for me?"

"Don't analyze this to death, Sam. Sometimes you have to just accept things as they are."

Sam cocked her head to the side and smirked, "Me? Overanalyze things? Never."

Jacob grinned. "It's good to see you still have your sense of humor."

She was about to respond, but then heard a noise down the hall.

"That's my cue, Sam," he commented as he leaned down in front of her. "Always remember how much I love you and will be there for you whenever you need me," he smiled warmly as he softly caressed her cheek. "Good luck, kid." Moments later, the vision of her father vanished from her sight.

Sam turned back toward the hallway and to the approaching entourage, which consisted of two Jaffa soldiers and a third cloaked individual.

" Jaffa, _kree_!" her familiar stranger instructed the soldier standing outside her cell, who saluted him and left the area. As soon as he was sure the soldier was far enough away as to not cause a problem, he reached up and lowered the force field of Sam's cell. "Alright. We have to go now."

"Fine. We go. But first tell me who you are and why you're doing this," she insisted as she held up her bound hands to halt the second Jaffa from approaching her. Sam had already weighed the pros and cons and decided it was more than likely worth the risk; but she was still a little leery of the entire setup and needed a few questions answered first before going any further.

He sighed loudly and clenched his jaw before responding. "My name is Novar." Sam shook her head, still not remembering him. "You knew me better as Captain Nelson."

Sam did a double-take. "_Nelson?_ Wait. You mean from…"

"You and your team helped me and many of my people come to understand that we were training to do battle for a false god."

"A _dead_ false god," Sam corrected.

Novar nodded. "Once we realized that our service to Apophis had been futile, we returned to our homes and our lives. Some of the men believed it would be wrong to stand idly by and watch as others fall prey to the same lies as we did, that the Goa'uld were gods."

"And you were one of them."

"Yes," Novar confirmed. "We have infiltrated the ranks of many Goa'ulds in order to undermine their authority and eventually overthrow them."

"But what about…"

"Please, no more questions now," Novar interrupted. "We must leave. Areena?" he gestured and the one with the hooded cloak revealed herself and removed the over-garment. She was wearing clothing identical to Sam's prison dark brown apparel and looked very similar to Sam, same build, same hairstyle; although she could tell that the hair had been dyed to appear blonde.

"What's this about?" Sam asked suspiciously as the young woman approached her with her cloak, although she pretty much had it figured out by then. The other Jaffa, this one with a small goatee, advanced toward Sam and helped her to her feet.

"Areena will take your place in your cell. This will give us the time we need to escape the compound and get you off-world."

Sam's eyes widened in disbelief. "I don't think so," she protested.

"It is the only way we can ensure that we can get you to safety," Novar continued.

"And what will happen to her while I'm off being safe?" she glared at her would-be rescuer. "No, don't answer. I already know."

"It's okay, Major Carter. I volunteered to do this," Areena assured her.

"No, it's _not_ okay," she tersely replied to Areena and then turned her attention to Novar. "If you _honestly_ think that I'm going to let this woman take my place so that I can be rescued, then you might remember my name, but you don't know me at all."

"Major…" Novar began to respond, but was interrupted by a staff blast that reeled past him and clipped Sam's left shoulder, hit Areena in the right arm and smashed into the Jaffa with the goatee, sending him crashing to the ground.

Sam ducked down as four Jaffa entered the corridor. With her hands still bound, she evaded the staff blasts, leapt over the dead Jaffa and reached for the zat gun sheathed on his wrist. She knelt behind him, using his body as a shield, and began firing randomly at the end of the corridor until she was certain that she and Novar had eliminated the threat.

Sam bowed her head and grimaced from the burning sensation in her arm.

"You've been hit! Are you in any pain?" Novar asked.

Sam raised her eyes to meet his and glared at him.

"Right. Stupid question," he replied sheepishly. "It doesn't look too serious though. You shouldn't require the use of the sarcophagus."

_That's the last thing I need right now_, she thought to herself, thankful that most of the withdrawal symptoms had dissipated. Sam lowered her head again to gather her strength and then moved toward Areena and the fallen Jaffa to check on them. "Your friend is dead…but Areena is still alive."

"We must leave _now_," Novar insisted.

"Did you hear me? I said she's still alive."

Novar leaned down to face Sam. "My only concern is getting you out of here. Otherwise, everything we've planned will fall through."

Sam reached for the dead Jaffa's knife and freed her hands. "Don't you get it, Novar? Your plan already _has_ fallen through. Somebody's onto you, which is why we were just ambushed."

Novar reached down and helped Sam to her feet. She winced as the new wound burned the upper part of her left arm. "The plan can still work. But I must get you out of here now."

"Not without her," Sam maintained.

"What?" he asked in amazement.

"You heard me. Either you're going to carry her or I am. Either way, we're not leaving here without her," she declared defiantly.

"But you're weak and injured. If you carry her, it will slow us down immensely," he urged her impatiently.

Sam tilted her head and gave him a look that communicated, "and therefore…" The message was subtle but fully understood.

Novar grit his teeth and groaned as he handed her his staff weapon. "_Fine._ You take point."

With his direction, Sam led the way out of the prison through what appeared to be a service entrance on the western side of the complex. She was amazed that she only had to take out three other Jaffa during the whole escape. Apparently, while Bavis is away, there was less of a Jaffa presence on the base. Sam couldn't help but think back to the numerous times she was dragged off for interrogation, and how the corridors seemed to be brimming over with Jaffa soldiers ready to do his bidding.

A few minutes later they reached a clearing. Sam heard something coming from behind the trees ahead of them and held up her arm motioning for Novar to stop and duck down. Sam crouched down and maneuvered to the left while she gestured with her hand for Novar to set Areena down behind the brush and crouch behind her. She waited as the noise drew closer and held her breath, targeting her staff weapon toward the source of the disruption and preparing to fire if need be.

Tense moments passed as a man stepped out into the open.

"Rafyatre!" Novar exclaimed as he approached the oncoming figure.

Rafyatre smiled as his friend approached and embraced him. Novar turned back to Sam. "It's okay Major Carter, it's Rafyatre."

Rafyatre smiled as he approached her. "But you knew me better as…"

"Don't tell me. It's…Carl, right?" Sam interrupted him as she rose from her hiding place.

"Kyle, actually. Captain Kyle Rogers. But you were close."

"Kyle. Right. Would it be okay if I still called you Kyle?"

"That's fine. I respond both names equally, Major Carter."

"Actually, it's Colonel now," Sam corrected him as she and leaned against the staff weapon for support. She was starting to feel weak all of the sudden as the adrenaline in her system that kept her moving over the past hour began to wane.

"Well, then, it's good to see you again, _Colonel_, although I'm surprised to see you at all since we had heard that you had died in the line of duty a few years back," Kyle retorted.

Sam's eyes widened. "_Really?_ Wow. Well, that's obviously not true."

"And thankfully so," Kyle replied. "Apparently our intelligence network isn't as reliable as we had thought."

Sam smiled weakly and Kyle frowned as he noticed her deteriorated state. "Are you okay, Colonel Carter?"

"She suffered injury before and during the escape but her wounds are not severe," Novar expounded.

Kyle reached out to Sam to help her. "Nevertheless, please come with me so we can get you patched up."

Novar retrieved Areena and the three of them journeyed to a nearby village. As she sat at a table outside what appeared to be a restaurant of sorts, Sam realized that this was the first time she had seen daylight in months. She closed her eyes as a balm was applied to her left shoulder and wrists and enjoyed the first moment of peace she had felt in ages. The sun warmed her skin as a deep sense of calm overtook her.

Novar walked over to where Sam was being treated. "You'll be happy to know that Areena will make a full recovery."

"That's good to know," she responded, relieved and still enjoying the calmness. All the sudden, it occurred to her that it might not be such a good idea to sit in the open like they were. "Uh, is it safe for us to be out here like this?"

"This village is well-protected by many of my men. We are safe for now."

"Then it's _true?_" she heard a voice asked from a distance. "She's really alive?"

Sam turned around as an older gentlemen approached her; apparently very happy to see her. He beamed as he neared her and shook her hand. "My name is Craissa. I am a scientist on this world but certainly not of your caliber. Novar and Rafyatre have told me much about you and what you did for them, Major Carter."

"Uh, actually it's Colonel Carter, now," Nevar corrected the man.

"My apologies, _Colonel Carter._ We were obviously misinformed about many things. In fact, we had heard that…"

"I know. I died."

"Exactly!" Craissa chortled as he spoke. "It's truly a pleasure to finally meet you, Colonel."

"And why is that, _exactly?_" Sam asked skeptically as her thoughts began to clear a little more.

"Colonel?" Kyle was confused by the question.

"Novar told me that helping me escape was conditional; that he would ask a favor in return. So what exactly do you want from me in exchange for my freedom?"

The three of them were a little surprised at her bluntness and hesitated before responding. "We want you to help us bring down Bavis," Kyle finally answered.

"Or kill him if necessary," Novar added.

"I figured it'd be something like that," Sam was not really surprised by the request since Novar had mentioned earlier that he was working with others to overthrow Goa'ulds. And with their extensive operation in place on this world, a world clearly controlled by Bavis, it made sense that he was their current target.

"Well? Will you help us?" Craissa pleaded.

"I gave my word that I would do whatever you asked; so, yes, I'll help."

The three of them collectively sighed in relief.

"But I need to contact my people first. They need to know that I'm alive and well; and I need my team and the resources of my world in order to successfully complete the objective."

"But how are you to get home without your GDO?" Novar inquired. At first, she was surprised that he knew what a GDO was until she remembered that, thanks to Apophis, he had been well-versed on SGC protocol and technology.

"Don't you worry about that," she replied as she stood up, still a little wobbly and thankful her arm didn't hurt as much. "You just get me to the gate and I'll take care of the rest."

* * *

Daniel slowly tipped over to the left and peeked through into Jack's office. His countenance fell as he leaned back and away from the window.

Teal'c observed the scowl and was troubled. "What did you see in there?"

Daniel shook his head and continued to glower. "Not good, Teal'c. Not good at all."

"What is O'Neill doing that's upsetting you so?"

Daniel slowly turned to face his friend of many years to give him the bad news. "He's cleaning."

Teal'c waited for more, but that was all Daniel said. "Cleaning? I do not understand what gave you cause for concern."

Daniel was surprised Teal'c didn't grasp the meaning of what he was saying. "He's _cleaning_. He's using some sort of rubbing alcohol and getting out pen marks on his desk. He's organizing his files. He's separating his thumbtacks from his paperclips, for crying out loud."

Teal'c frowned, still unsure of the problem.

Daniel huffed in astonishment. "We're talking about Jack here, Teal'c, the same guy who has a more varied collection of molds in refrigerator than they do in the science lab."

"I see what you mean," Teal'c agreed.

"And what about the way he _isn't_ acting?" Daniel continued.

"What do you mean?"

"Well take a look at how he's been lately. He's not taking phone calls from the Pentagon or from Home World Security. He hasn't shot anything, or blown anything up in weeks; in fact, I don't think he's so much as raised his voice since we got back from P4J-989. I mean, remember last week when Walter spilled his coffee on his lap? I thought for sure he would blow his top but he actually apologized to Walter! Do you see where I'm going with this? It's not healthy, Teal'c…he's not letting off any steam."

Teal'c's expression softened. "You are right, Daniel Jackson."

"What about all the SG teams he's assigned to find Sam? I mean, don't get me wrong; I hope they find her and bring her back, of course. But how much longer do you think the Pentagon's going to let him ignore them and continue to use the resources of the SGC to find just one person?"

"Not much longer," Teal'c conceded.

"And how do you think he'll react to that? He's supposed to be in DC by now, but instead he's holed up in his office here. He isn't talking about Sam; and more than likely he hasn't even considered the possibility that she might really be gone. He has to begin to _let go_, Teal'c, just like you and I have started to."

Teal'c cocked his head to the side. "You are correct in assuming that I too am realizing that we might not find her. But perhaps O'Neill is hoping the same will be true of Colonel Carter as was of you. Many times we thought you were lost to us and yet somehow you managed to return each time."

"Yeah, but you're forgetting that each time I came back, it was due to a miraculous chain of events outside of the control of _this place_," Daniel gestured with his hands as he spoke.

He turned and looked in on Jack again, who was busy polishing one of the plaques on his wall. His voice sobered as he continued his thought.

"I'm really worried about him, Teal'c. What will happen to Jack if Sam doesn't get a miracle of her own?"

* * *

Surprisingly, Sam, Novar and Kyle only had to take out five Jaffa to make it to the gate successfully. She slowly made her way over to the DHD and then turned back to the others to give them instructions.

"Alright. While I'm gone I'm going to need you to gather as much intel as you possibly can. Find out what Bavis is currently up to and when he's scheduled to return. When I get back here with the others, I'll also need a layout of the base, including possible entry and exit points and any potentially strategic targets. _Understood?_"

"Yes, ma'am," they replied as she started dialing the alpha site. Novar reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gadget and handed it to Sam.

"What's this?" Sam asked as she tried to focus on the object, but her vision was starting to become a little blurry.

"Think of it as our version of both a DHD and long distance communicator. When you and your team return through our gate, activate it by pressing the left button and then go and wait by that pillar over there," Novar directed as he pointed to the left. "As you can see, it's hidden well by those trees in case any Jaffa show up unexpectedly. That will be where we'll come and retrieve you. The button on the right activates the long distance comm system. It's like your radios, only its signal can transmit significantly greater distances."

"Okay," Sam replied as she pocketed the small device in the cloak Areena provided earlier. She was feeling very dizzy as the trauma from the last several weeks and her lack of sleep during that time began to catch up with her. She tried to shake it off, thinking that as soon as she reached the alpha site, the staff there would contact the SGC and she'd be home before she knew it. At long last, her nightmarish ordeal would finally be over. "I'll be back as soon as I can." The gate activated and Sam wobbled through the event horizon.

But as soon as she stepped through the other side, she knew something was horribly wrong.

She had expected to see the alpha site's gate room; which was a smaller, less sophisticated version of the one at the SGC. Instead, not only was there no gate room, there was no facility. She saw nothing before her but the planet's indigenous plant life. Sam was stunned; did she accidentally dial the wrong address? She looked around and recognized a trio of mountains off to the left. No, she was certain she had dialed correctly. But then where was everything?

Just then, she heard a group of Jaffa in the distance as they approached her position. She was standing directly in front of the gate, which was located in a small clearing surrounded by trees. This is where it had been before the facility at the alpha site had been completed and the gate relocated to the complex. Sam turned and started running towards a large grouping of bushes and underbrush behind the gate. But with each step, she felt her body begin to rebel against her.

Her feet simply would not hold her up and she felt her body flush with heat as she collapsed to her knees. A wave of nausea coursed through her and she recognized the familiar warning signs that she was about to loss consciousness. But she persevered and crawled as best she could toward the cover the bushes would provide.

She was perspiring heavily as another wave of nausea and dizziness swept over her. _Just a little bit further_, she prodded herself. _Just get to that tree. Focus on the tree._

But the toll her body had taken over the past several weeks was just too much for her. Everything became white as she collapsed, seven feet from her intended destination.

It took quite a while, but Sam slowly became aware of her surroundings. She had been lying face down in the mud which was terribly uncomfortable so she shifted her weight and rolled onto her back. As she lay there staring at the sky, she surmised that she had been there for several hours because of where the suns were now positioned in the sky. She took long, deep cleansing breaths and realized that, since she wasn't in custody, the grass she was lying in must have been tall enough to obscure her position from the Jaffa.

Still a little woozy, she wasn't in any hurry to jump up; so she stayed there for a while and pondered her situation. _What the hell was going on? _she wondered almost aloud. _This is the alpha site but why were there Jaffa here? And where was the base?_ None of this made any sense to her at all. Sam started thinking about alternate methods of getting home when the most obvious one came to mind. _Contact one of our allies and have them send a message to the SGC on my behalf._ She gave little consideration as to which one it would be…that was a secondary concern.

Sam felt an odd sensation on her face and raised her hand to her cheek to explore. She guessed by the rough texture that it was mud that had hardened on her skin and she tried to wipe some of it away.

She slowly eased herself into a semi-seated position as she sensed that the mud had caked in her hair as well. Sam tried to pick some of the larger pieces out by hand, but recognized she really needed water to get the bulk out. As she worked most of the muck from her unruly tresses, she realized how she badly needed a hair cut. Actually she was supposed to have had it taken care of prior to the P4J-989 mission but decided to put it off for some reason, though she couldn't remember now what it was.

Sam caught herself and smiled at the absurdity. How ridiculous was it for her to be sitting on a Jaffa infested world after spending months being terrorized by a sociopath and then worrying about something as trivial as her hair?

As she continued working the mud off of her left temple, she was startled by the fact that the Goa'uld memory disk was still there. She had become so accustomed to its presence that she had almost forgotten about it altogether. Sam grit her teeth and winced as she dislodged the small device from her head, leaving a small red mark in its place. As she tossed the disk into the tall grass where she was seated, she was disturbed by the alarming possibilities associated with Bavis having so many of her memories at his disposal; and she wondered how soon it would be before he'd use her knowledge against her and anyone else who stood in his way.

After she was satisfied that she had gotten a sufficient amount of the mud off her face and out of her hair, Sam turned her attention to the gate. She peeked her head up over the top of the shrubbery that had so well concealed her presence to see if there were any Jaffa in sight and was surprised to find no one there. The gate was completely unguarded.

She waited a few minutes more to see if anyone was coming and then finally made her way to the DHD. Now, completely conscious about the hair in her eyes, she used her fingers to comb the locks away from her face and was about to dial out when she heard a voice call out to her from behind.

"Kree! _Aray Kree!_" one Jaffa hollered as he and another quickly advanced on her position. By the bags they were carrying, it looked as though they were heading to the gate to go off-world rather than to come guard it.

"What are you doing here, _slave?_" one of them addressed her tersely. At that moment, Sam realized that she didn't appear to be a threat to them. After all, she wasn't dressed in her SG uniform; so as far as they were concerned, she was just another civilian who misguidedly wandered toward the gate. As they closed in on her, she determined that she could use their ignorance about her to her advantage.

Thankfully, the wooziness had calmed down a little and her arm wasn't burning as much as it was before; because in a few moments, she was going to need full use of it.

"I'm afraid I got lost," Sam tried her best to sound helpless and weak. "Can either of you help me find…"

"_Kegalo!_" the other barked as he circled her slowly and grinned ominously. "You are a very beautiful woman, _slave._"

After the time she just spent removing hardened sludge from her skin and face, she almost cringed at the irony of his statement. Sam eyed both of the Jaffa as they loomed around her, paying special attention to their positions relative to hers and realized that the one on the left still needed to move a little closer toward her. The timing had to be just right.

He continued, "Lord Bavis would be _pleased_ to have someone as attractive as you to be one of his wives. I am certain he will reward me greatly for finding you." The Jaffa was obviously very pleased with himself.

Sam saw the opportunity and took it, as she raised an incredulous eyebrow to antagonize him into action. "Sorry. Not interested."

"What? You _dare_ defy me?" he roared as he took long strides to close in on her.

That was it. Sam sprung the trap on him as she lunged for his staff weapon, twisted it from his grasp, swooped it around and knocked him off his feet as she fired at the second one who was just too slow to react; more than likely too stunned by her audacity and deftness. As the first one tried to get up off the ground, she swung the staff weapon down and smashed him in the head, rendering him unconscious.

The entire engagement was over in under ten seconds.

Sam leaned her weight against the staff weapon and took a few deep breaths, thankful that she had had the chance to rest earlier, even if it had been the result of losing consciousness. That brief respite gave her a chance to recharge a little before having to deal with these two Jaffa. Who knows how things would have turned out if she had run into them a little earlier. She shuddered briefly at the thought but then suddenly realized what the Jaffa said. _Lord Bavis?_ For such an insignificant Goa'uld, he certainly seems to have spread himself out further than one would expect. How could he have based any Jaffa on a planet she _knew_ was the SGC alpha site? What did he do with the facility and personnel? The whole situation completely perplexed her.

Sam meandered back over to the DHD and began dialing the first friendly address that popped into her mind and headed through the gate toward the beautiful lands of Cimmeria. There standing before her was a fully functional Thor's Hammer, which scanned her upon her arrival.

Sam wasn't really sure at first why she picked Cimmeria. After all, she had visited hundreds of worlds and had plenty of allies from which she could have chosen. Why did she dial this world in particular? Then she realized it was because of how friendly the people were; most especially Gairwyn, who she hadn't seen in several years.

Sam tossed the staff weapon to the side and began the long walk to the village. Halfway there, she was surprised to run into a group of travelers, including Gairwyn, of all people. By the way their horses were loaded up, it was clear that they had just spent the day gathering supplies for themselves and their loved ones.

"Major Carter? Is that _really_ you?" Gairwyn asked disbelievingly.

"Well, actually it's…" Sam stopped herself from correcting her friend about her rank. "Never mind. Yes, it's me."

"Oh it's so _wonderful_ to see you!" Gairwyn raced over and gave her a big hug; Sam smiled broadly and reciprocated the embrace. "I had received word that you had fallen in battle."

"You had?" Sam was taken aback.

Gairwyn ignored the surprised tone in her voice and continued her thought. "I am so glad that it's not true. Tell me, why are you visiting our fair land again? Do you require food or shelter? Please come and sup with us." Gairwyn reached toward Sam to direct her to her home. But Sam just stood there, too deep in thought to acknowledge Gairwyn's offer. The wheels in her mind started churning as she considered how odd it was for Gairwyn to also think she had died. It just seemed a little too coincidental.

"Major Carter?" Gairwyn asked, snapping Sam from her reverie.

"Oh, no, thank you for the invitation; but I don't need any food right now. However, I could really use your help."

"You need _my_ help?" Gairwyn couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all the people of Midgard had done to help her world in the past, she was delighted at the opportunity to return the favor. "What do you require of me?"

"I need to get home and can't without…" Sam realized it would be ridiculous to try to explain how a GDO worked to her Cimmerian friend; so she tried a different tactic. "I've been lost for a long time and I need to let my friends know that they have to come and get me. Do you still have that box we gave you?"

"You mean the replacement box Dr. Jackson gave us after we sent the first one through the portal to let you know the Etins were attacking us. Yes, I have it. Do you need me to go get it now?"

"Yes, I would appreciate it if you did," she grinned broadly.

* * *

Jack needed to occupy his hands again. It would be another two hours until the next SG team reports in, and Jack was going stir crazy just reading the reports regarding other non-search related missions. He'd already polished and cleaned just about everything in sight; and then, he had an idea as to what he could do with himself.

He didn't even notice ten minutes later when Daniel strolled casually into his office, as his back was turned toward the door and he was too deeply involved in what he was doing. Curious, Daniel moved in a little closer to see what he was up to.

"Jack…"

"_Gaagh!_" Jack exclaimed as he abruptly turned to face Daniel, revealing the feather duster in his right hand. "_Dammit, Daniel!_ Don't you know you should never sneak up on a man armed with a feather duster? _Jeez!_"

"Jack, we need to talk about…"

Jack whipped around and jerked his finger up in the air, stopping Daniel mid-sentence. "Don't say it Daniel," his voice darkened.

"Jack…"

"_I mean it_, Daniel, Don't say a word," Jack growled, his tone of voice growing angrier.

"Look, you may not want to hear this or think about this right now; but at some point in the near future, you're going to have to consider the fact that there's a very good chance we're not going to find her."

"We don't leave our people behind," Jack retorted, matter-of-factly.

"Well as much as I'd love to think that you'd go to these kinds of lengths for everyone here, _we both_ know that that's not all there is to this; which is also why you're having such a difficult time letting go," Daniel delicately replied

Jack exhaled irately as he gathered his thoughts. "Listen to me and get it through your _thick skull_ because I'm not going to repeat myself. We _are_ going to find her, do you understand me? She's alive and out there right now waiting for us to find her; and we will bring her home safely. End of discussion," his eyes blazed with determination and denial.

"And what if we don't? It's been _weeks_ now, Jack. You're avoiding General Hammond, you're not taking any of General Ransom's calls…how much longer do you honestly think you can put Washington off?"

"As long as I have to," Jack mumbled almost under his breath.

"Jack…"

Jack leaned against the edge of his desk, exasperated. "_Listen_, Daniel! I don't have time for this discussion right now. So either give me more information about Zippy's old stomping grounds so we can add it to our list of places to look, or get out of my office."

"But Jack…"

"I _mean_ it, Daniel!" Jack's eyes glared almost threateningly at Daniel, and he finally got the message. It was clear that Jack was not in the mood to have this discussion right now. Maybe it'd be a long time before he would be; but right now the timing was off and Daniel recognized he was not prepared yet to consider the worst. He nodded his concession and turned and left Jack to resume his dusting.

Daniel closed the door to Jack's office and looked over at Teal'c, who had been waiting for word about their mutual friend. Daniel shook his head mournfully as a confirmation that their common concerns about Jack were valid. Teal'c watched as Daniel walked somberly out of the conference room and down the spiral stairs.

And as he sat there alone with his thoughts, Teal'c became terribly concerned about his good friend and brother.

* * *

Roughly thirty minutes passed from the time Sam tossed the box into the event horizon until the stargate activated again and SG-5 came through.

She was resting off to the side about 50 feet away from the gate; and she stood slowly as the men headed her way. She was almost giddy as they approached her but still felt dizzy and weak from her long ordeal. It was nothing that a very long vacation wouldn't cure; something that she wouldn't have even dared to allow herself to consider just one long day ago as she languished in Bavis's prison.

"Hi guys," she glibly greeted the men and then turned toward their CO. "Colonel Walker," she saluted him and then smiled. "It's _very_ good to see you, sir."

Walker stared at her dumbfounded for a moment as he ignored the salute and her comments. "_You_, wait here," he ordered her almost angrily. "Foster, Jericho, keep an eye on her."

The smile on her face waned as she sensed that something was seriously wrong. "Sir?"

Lieutenant Rick Foster and Captain Michael Jericho kept a very close watch on her as Colonel Walker headed back toward the gate and activated it. Sam glowered as she watched Colonel Walker from a distance as he made radio contact with earth, and wished she could hear what he was saying. Maybe then she would have some clue as to why he was treating her so strangely.

"Did I hear you correctly, Colonel?" the voice over the comm asked incredulously.

"Yes sir, I believe you did. What are my orders?"

There was a long pause.

"Bring her back with you but keep a close eye on her."

"Yes sir." Walker gestured for the three of them to proceed.

_Finally_, Sam wondered to herself. What could possibly have been the delay? As she started walking toward the stargate, she felt her legs start to give out on her again and leaned against Captain Jericho for support, which he instinctively offered.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I guess I'm still a little dizzy..."

"That's okay, ma'am. Lieutenant?" he motioned for Foster to support her other side as they made it to the event horizon and through to earth.

The welcome sound of the SGC stargate ramp clanging under her feet greeted her as she arrived, and so did a room full of heavily armed airmen, with all with their weapons fixed on her position.

The stargate disengaged behind her as Major General George Hammond entered the gateroom. Sam's browed furrowed as she pulled away from Jericho and Foster and moved forward slowly to investigate. Two things confused her. Why was General Hammond in the gateroom and why did every airman in the room look as though they were all apparently ready to fire on her if given the order?

As to General Hammond's presence, Sam considered the possibilities. _Maybe he was here to visit Jack regarding Home World Security business. Or more likely, he was here to visit with the new CO, since Jack had probably left for Washington by now._ That seemed like a plausible enough explanation. But as to the other issue, she had no answer. Why did everyone in the room have their weapons pointed at her?

"General Hammond?" she addressed the General cautiously. "It's good to see you, sir. What's this all about, if I might ask?"

"That's funny. I was about to ask you the same question," Hammond replied brusquely. "But first, I want to know exactly who you are."

Sam scowled dubiously. "'_Who I am?_' Are you saying you don't recognize me, sir?" she inquired, completely perplexed.

"I know you look and sound exactly like Major Samantha Carter, but I also know that that would be impossible."

"_Major_ Carter?" Sam was surprised that General Hammond would address her using her former rank; he knew that she had been promoted. Was it just a slip of the tongue, or was it something else? She decided to set that issue aside for the moment and pressed the General for more information. "I don't understand, sir. Why did you say it's impossible that I'm Samantha Carter? What's so impossible about that?"

General Hammond clenched his jaw tightly as he walked up the ramp and glared deeply into her eyes. "Because Major Carter died in the line of duty three years ago," he growled authoritatively.

His words echoed through her mind as Hammond ordered two MPs to take her away to the base holding cell. Sam didn't protest; her mind was too busy trying to process everything that was happening to her and was just too bewildered to react.

Colonel Walker approached the General tentatively, still in shock by seeing a woman he knew was supposed to be long dead. "Sir, what about SG-1? Shouldn't someone inform them about this Carter look-alike?"

Hammond sighed deeply as he walked away from Walker without responding to his question and ordered the airmen in the gateroom to stand down. He knew Walker was right. SG-1 had the right to know what was going on. General Hammond ambled up to the control room and addressed Sergeant Harriman. "Sergeant, I want you to establish radio contact with SG-1."

"Yes, sir," Walter complied and started dialing the gate.

Minutes later, Walter turned to face General Hammond.

"I have Colonel O'Neill on the line for you now, sir, but the connection is very poor."

"Very well, Sergeant. Thank you." Hammond turned toward the transmitter and began speaking loudly to compensate for the interference. "Colonel O'Neill, can you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," Jack replied through the heavy static, "but I must say I'm ittle surprised hear from you "

"Not as surprised as you're going to be when I tell you why I'm contacting you." General Hammond stopped himself and thought about the situation for a moment. He realized this was not something that he should tell them long distance; this should be done in person. "Actually, Colonel, something's happened here and I need to know if you can extricate yourselves from your meeting with the elders and return to earth."

"Well, Daniel, Teal'c, and I get away resident geek has gotten hot water one of reactors withou permission first. So uld have to stay behind. Is ight or do you need come too?"

"That will be fine. Make your way back to the gate. I'll see you all in about six hours."

"Yes, sir," O'Neill replied as the transmission was cut off.

"Sergeant, contact the doctor and have her recalled to the base," Hammond ordered.

"Yes, sir."

"Now I've just got to figure out exactly how to tell all of them about our surprise visitor," Hammond mumbled to himself.

"I'm sure you'll come up with the words, sir," Walter replied, not sure whether or not the General was speaking to him.

"I hope so, Walter. I hope so," General Hammond patted the Sergeant's shoulder appreciatively before he walked up to his office.

* * *

Sam lay on the lower bunk in the SGC holding cell and stared mindlessly at the mattress over her head as she tried to figure out what was happening to her. She thought back to the first indication that something was wrong – back to the village outside Bavis's base, when Kyle, Novar and Craissa all told her they had believed she was dead. And then on Cimmeria, when Gairwyn was under the same impression. And last, but certainly not least, the fact that General Hammond of all people placed her in custody for masquerading as Major Carter, who he said died three years ago.

None of it made any sense to her at all…unless…

"Ma'am?" the MP woke her from her musings. "You have a visitor."

"Thank you, Airman," Sam acknowledged. She combed that stupid curl away from her eyes with her fingers as she shifted her weight off the mattress and began to rise.

"Sam?" a familiar voice hesitantly whispered.

Sam stopped fiddling with her bangs long enough to look up to see who was addressing her; and she gasped audibly as her eyes met those of a person she was certain she'd never see again. "_Janet?_"

"Airman, open the door," Janet directed without averting her eyes from Sam.

"But ma'am, my orders are…"

"That's an _order_, Airman," Janet insisted. The airman reluctantly obeyed. "And I'm going to need a few minutes to examine her. Alone." The Airman warily shifted his eyes toward Sam then back to Janet before leaving the room.

"Sam? Is it really you?" Janet asked almost in tears as Sam nodded. Both rushed toward each other simultaneously and embraced.

"Oh my God, Janet; I can't _believe_ this!" they held each other for several long moments, crying as they stood outside the holding cell.

Janet pulled back, still stunned from seeing her dear friend. "This is impossible. I performed your autopsy. There's no chance…"

"Janet, I think I have an idea about what's going on, but I'm going to need some information about what happened to me. I need to know exactly how and when I died, what happened before my death and what's happened since then. Can you help me?"

Janet was still choked up but she nodded her response as she brushed one of Sam's long tresses away from her neck. "And I'm going to need to run some tests on you. As much as I wish I could believe you're Sam…"

"I understand," Sam interrupted again. "Actually, I'm looking forward to it because I think it'll help prove my theory."

* * *

"Well, what do you all think of this?" General Hammond opened the floor; but everyone in the conference room sat there completely dumbfounded and speechless for several long moments.

"Okay, now. Let me get this straight," Jack tried to wrap his mind around what the General just announced to them. "You're telling us that as we speak, right now, at this very moment, we have an _alternate_ Carter in the base holding cell?"

"That would be the long and short of it, yes," General Hammond replied.

"Well, this feels very déjà vu'-ish," Jack continued, still confused.

"You're referring to the incident a few years ago with Major Kawalsky and Doctor Carter?" Teal'c suggested.

"_Bingo!_" Jack barked as he pointed to Teal'c. "Does anyone else here have a problem understanding all of this? How on earth could there be _that_ many Carters out there?" he asked everyone seated at the table.

"And speaking of déjà vu…-ish," Daniel offered, "didn't you say pretty much the same thing back then?" Daniel asked.

"Did I now?" Jack's tone was tinged with sarcasm. Daniel ignored the attitude and nodded. "And when someone answered my question, do you remember if I _actually_ understood any of it?"

"I think you did. A little. Maybe."

"And what pray tell then was the answer?"

"Well, essentially that a new reality is created for every action or choice made in…" Daniel began.

"Aah, wait a minute," Jack raised his hand, halting him mid-sentence. "I'm remembering something here. Something about a fork in the road, right?"

"Yeah that's it," Daniel confirmed.

"Ah," Jack exclaimed, a little proud of himself for recalling that little detail. "Well, except for the fact that SG-5 retrieved her offworld as opposed to our finding her in an Area 51 holding cell, so far everything about this seems a lot like what happened five years ago."

"Actually, Colonel, I'd say it's _exactly_ like what happened five years ago," Janet announced, and all heads turned toward her and Sam as they entered the room.

Everyone in the conference room rose to their feet and stared completely thunderstruck at Sam; which of course made her feel very self-conscious. "Doctor, what's the meaning of bringing her up here like this?"

"General, I…"

"Sir," Sam interrupted as she nervously cleared her throat, "I think I can help clear things up if you will permit me to participate in the briefing."

"Are you sure you're well enough? I understand from the MPs that you were pretty badly battered."

"Yes sir, I'm fine," Hammond's concern for her touched Sam.

"She's a little worse for wear; but except for a staff blast wound to the shoulder, several bruises and lacerations and a minor infection we'll need to keep an eye on, she'll be just fine."

Hammond eyed both Sam and Janet for a few moments before responding. "Very well, both of you stay. Doctor, please continue with what you were saying."

Sam and Janet glanced at each other briefly before heading over to their respective places at the conference table. Sam ended up in the seat next to Teal'c, directly across from Jack.

"I've run a number of tests on her and the results are conclusive from her dental records down to the cellular level. For all intents and purposes, this woman is Samantha Carter."

"But Major Carter died three years ago."

"Yes sir. _Major_ Carter did die. But this here is Lieutenant Colonel Carter, and in her reality, she is alive and well."

"'_Her reality'_? Oi," Jack groaned.

"I believe I can shed some light on this, sir, if you'll bear with me and allow me to ask a few questions," Sam implored the General.

"Go ahead, Colonel," Hammond responded.

Sam took a deep breath as she proceeded to explain her theory. "According to Doctor Fraiser, your Samantha Carter died when a Tok'ra tunnel collapsed in on her and Lieutenant Elliot on Revanna three years ago. Now we compared notes about my life and work at the SGC and about the world around us in general; and it looks as though everything up to that point on Revanna seems to be _exactly_ the same in both realities. So until proven otherwise, I'm going to accept that _that_ is the point in which our two realities diverge; since, of course, I didn't die in my reality."

"Okay, I'm with you so far," Daniel offered supportingly.

"Several weeks ago, I was taken prisoner by a Goa'uld named Bavis," she reported, to audible gasps at the mention of his name. "Now I need to know: is what Doctor Frasier told me true? Did he rise to power from near obscurity about two and a half months ago and start generating a strong following of loyal Jaffa practically out nowhere?"

"Yes," Daniel answered. "He was, for the most part, a completely irrelevant minor Goa'uld in the service of Zipacna until just recently."

"And what helped him rise to power so quickly?"

Jack exhaled sharply and picked up where Daniel left off. "He got his hands on something called the Eye of Ra, which apparently had been buried somewhere on…"

"…On Abydos," Sam finished Jack's sentence. Suddenly she winced as she had a flash of memory recalling when Bavis interrogated her about the Eye of Ra during one of their sessions and wondered to herself if or how he was able to get the five other Eyes.

Teal'c's eyebrow raised, "How could you know this, Colonel Carter?"

"Because in _my_ reality, we found the Eye of Ra about two years ago thanks to Daniel, who was ascended at the time."

"Um. Excuse me? _Ascended?_" Daniel raised his hand tentatively in the air, "As in Oma Desala, higher plane of existence…_not alive_, ascended?"

"Oh, I guess that didn't happen in this reality then, did it?" Sam inquired sheepishly. Daniel shook his head briskly and Sam was a little disconcerted by the realization that her staying alive in her reality must have in some way contributed to Daniel's death and apparently Janet's as well.

"What about the name Jonas Quinn? Is that name familiar to any of you at all?"

"Quinn, Quinn…nope, doesn't ring a bell," Jack retorted.

"What about the Atlantis expedition?"

"Atlantis? As in '_the lost city of'_?" Daniel asked incredulously. It was clear that they had no idea what she was talking about.

"_Wow._ It's hard to imagine how my living or dying could cause such extreme differences in our realities," Sam pondered aloud.

"How much more different are they?" Teal'c inquired.

"Where do I begin? Well, I guess for starters, the Jaffa are free from the Goa'uld and have established a new Jaffa Nation. As a result of losing their power base, the Goa'uld are pretty much running with their tails between their legs," Sam answered, to Teal'c's astonishment.

"And yet, you were captured by one of them," General Hammond added.

"Yes sir. My O'Neill, General O'Neill, led three SG teams to a planet we designated P4J-989 on what we thought was a rescue mission. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a trap and I was captured as a result."

"Wait a minute! _General_ O'Neill?" Jack cringed at the title. "Why the hell would I let myself get promoted like that in _any_ reality?"

Sam decided to ignore his commentary as she continued. "I originally thought that Bavis had simply moved me to another one of the planets under his control in order to make it more difficult for the others to find me. I now believe that's only partially true."

"What do you mean?" Hammond requested.

Sam thought back to Bavis's words to her as he tormented her that first day: _"You won't die before I have had my fill of torturing you and have learned everything I need to solidify my power. And I assure you – that time is far, far away."_

"When Bavis first captured me, one of the things he taunted me with was the fact that he was going to use what I knew to rise to power. Now at the time, I thought he meant he was going to try to build his empire on top of the ruins of the Goa'uld we had eliminated. But maybe he realized it was a lost cause…in our reality."

"I don't like where this is going," Jack complained.

"I now believe that Bavis didn't just move me to _another planet_, but also to _another reality_ – this reality – in which the Goa'uld have not yet been defeated," Sam paused to let her words sink in; but everyone just sat there, speechless. "Listen, I don't think the timeline of my capture _there_ to Bavis's meteoric rise to power _here_ is a coincidence. He's doing exactly what he promised he'd do: using my memories of how we conquered the Goa'uld to gain a tactical advantage over the System Lords and over you. My knowledge is giving him a golden opportunity to eclipse what he was before in _either_ of our realities: a minor Goa'uld with no hope of gaining any power."

"Oh boy," Jack groaned.

"Okay," Daniel responded as he tried to process what Sam was saying. "Let's say for the sake of argument that you're right. How did you get to this reality in the first place?"

"That's a good question. I don't think you're going to like the answer."

"Don't say it, Carter," Jack warned.

"If you're about to suggest that you were brought here by way of the quantum mirror, then you're barking up the wrong tree. I ordered that device destroyed right after Colonel O'Neill and the others came back through it and was given high level assurances that it was taken care of," General Hammond assured her.

"No disrespect intended, sir, but you've been given 'high level assurances' before about other things that later turned out to be untrue. Now during the time I've served at the SGC and with all the technology I've been privy to, the quantum mirror is the _only_ device I've ever witnessed that had the ability to transport an individual or individuals from one reality to another. I'm sorry, sir, but we have to at least consider the possibility."

General Hammond's jaw clenched tightly as he thought back to the events of five years ago. He had been ordered by Washington to ship the mirror back to Area 51 to be discarded. And as he considered who was in charge at Area 51 during that time, he realized that Sam's concerns might be merited.

"I'll make some calls," he finally conceded.

"Thank you, sir."

"Wait a minute," Daniel interrupted. "If you're from an alternate reality and you've been here for what did you say? A few months? Then how is it that you're not having any of those tremors that Doctor Carter had while she was here?"

"Doctor Carter experienced convulsive shock, caused by temporal entropic cascade failure on the cellular level. If you'll recall, she had been aware that it would happen to her but assumed it would only present itself after several years of existing in an alternate reality. The reason she had severe convulsions so quickly was due to the increased entropy generated by both of us existing in the same reality. The difference between my situation and hers is obvious: the Samantha Carter of this reality isn't alive. So, theoretically, I would have to live in this reality for many years before experiencing my first tremor."

"And what about Bavis?" Teal'c thought aloud.

"I imagine since Bavis knows what I know, he either already had knowledge that the Bavis of your reality was dead, or he killed him _himself_ to ensure that he wouldn't go through what Doctor Carter did."

"By the way, that whole 'Bavis knowing everything you know' is a real problem for me," Jack remarked.

"I agree, sir. Who knows what other bits of my knowledge he intends to use against you next?"

"Well, that's all well and good," Hammond concurred, "but our problem has been and continues to be gaining access to him. We've tried to infiltrate one of his fortresses before and were unsuccessful. We lost four people during our last attempt."

"I may be of help here, sir. Apparently the facility I escaped from is one of his main bases of operation. Now I already have a basic knowledge of how to enter the complex. Plus, the people that helped me escape have already developed a pretty strong resistance movement within his ranks. If I return to the planet with SG-1 as my backup, I believe that we can take Bavis out with their help."

"I'm sorry, Colonel, but you're not going _anywhere_," Hammond stated matter-of-factly.

"Sir?"

"I can't risk you falling into Bavis's hands again. If he were to recapture you, he could learn more about what you know from your reality and now, what you know about ours."

"Sir I understand your concerns; but please hear me out. Bavis held me captive for almost _nine weeks_ and he interrogated me nearly every day I was there. It seems to me that he's already taken whatever knowledge he could from me during that time." Sam noticed Jack involuntarily cringe as he thought about how Sam must have suffered during her imprisonment. She continued, "also, my contacts are expecting me to return. I promised them I would help them overthrow Bavis in exchange for the risks they took in helping me escape. And with respect, General, I intend to keep my word."

General Hammond looked into Sam's eyes and recognized her resolve was firmly set. "Alright, Colonel. I'll consider your request."

"Thank you, sir."

"Meanwhile, I need you to come with me back to the infirmary," Janet instructed her. Sam was about to object but she interrupted her, "no 'but's' Sam. I mean it. We need to take care of that infection now."

"Go ahead, Colonel. I'll start making some calls regarding the quantum mirror; and then I'll get back to you later on regarding your request to join SG-1 on the mission," General Hammond ordered.

"Yes sir," Sam stood slowly, still aching and a little weak. As she turned to follow Janet, she glanced over at Jack; and for a split-second, she caught an unguarded moment where his eyes revealed his emotions. When he realized she was looking at him, the all too familiar barrier went back up and his expression hardened.

Sam smiled wistfully and left the room.

* * *

"Alright," Janet announced as she injected medication into Sam's right arm, "that should help with the infection." Sam didn't acknowledge her. For the last two and a half hours, she had been receiving treatment by her good friend for her various medical problems caused by her extended stay with Bavis. And during that time, she debated the wisdom of telling her the whole truth.

"And what about the withdrawal symptoms? You said earlier that you had spent quite a long time in Bavis's sarcophagus."

"It's better now," Sam replied impassively.

"Now as to the physical exhaustion, I prescribe at least two weeks in the Bahamas. I'll even make the sacrifice and go with you to monitor your progress, if that's what it takes to ensure your good health," Janet quipped, but Sam just stared past her good friend and smiled blankly.

Janet had been reading the conflict in Sam's eyes for quite a while now and finally decided to call her on what was troubling her. "I can tell something's bothering you, Sam. Is it something I can help you with?"

Sam considered how she could tell the woman who had been like a sister to her exactly what had happened, and then realized that perhaps the best way would be the most direct way. She sighed deeply as she began the difficult conversation. "Janet, I haven't told you everything about my reality, and there's something I think you should know; although I'm not sure why I feel so compelled to tell you this."

"What is it?"

Just then the klaxons sounded and Sergeant Harriman's voice echoed over the speaker system, "Unscheduled offworld activation!"

Sam instinctively looked up at the speakers and controlled the urge to rush off to the control room. "Hmm, I wonder what that's about?"

"I'm not sure," Janet answered. "I'm not aware of any team being due back right now." Sam continued to stare off into the distance, clearly evading Janet's gaze. "So, what were you about to tell me?"

Sam paused as she gathered her thoughts, and then dove right in. "About a year and a half ago, you joined us on a mission to P3X-666. We were taking heavy fire; and while you were trying to administer first aide to a member of SG-13, a staff blast hit you the chest and killed you instantly."

"_Wow,_" Janet's jaw dropped as her eyes widened incredulously. "I _died_?" Sam nodded soberly, and Janet took a few more moments to try to absorb the news. "Well, that explains why you were so emotional when you first saw me. I mean, I had lost you three years ago, so I knew why I was so upset; but you…" Janet stopped herself mid-sentence and changed her train of thought. "How's Cassandra…I mean, your Cassandra?"

"I won't lie to you, Janet. She went through a very rough time there for quite awhile; but she's doing better now, I think. I spend as much time with her as I can but I'm certainly no replacement for you," Sam smiled softly. "She's a beautiful young woman now and she's ready to go off to college. She's even considering a future in the Air Force."

Janet grinned. "That sounds vaguely familiar. A few years ago, my Cassie took your death very much to heart and went through a similar rough patch. You were a great source of inspiration for her; I'm not sure if you realize just how much. And now she's talking about the Air Force Academy." Janet paused and then grew very serious all of the sudden. "Thank you, Sam, for being there for her."

"What are best friends for?" Sam smiled lovingly and then her expression became very somber. "Listen, Janet, there's something I have to know."

"What is it, Sam?"

"It's about my Dad. In my reality, he died about six months ago. Is he…?"

Janet solemnly shook her head. "I'm sorry Sam. Your father and Selmak died about a year ago at the hands of some rebel Jaffa who thought the Tok'ra had killed Bratac and wanted revenge for his death."

"What?" Sam was shocked, "are you saying Bratac's dead too?"

"No. That's the real tragedy. As it turned out, Bratac was alive. Your father's death was meaningless. It was such a waste. And to this day, we are still suffering the consequences of that rash act of vengeance." Janet finally noticed how upset Sam was about the news on how her father was killed. She walked over and gently put her hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Sam."

"It's okay. Really," Sam tried to assure her friend while she choked on a few tears. "I've had plenty of time to accept his death. It's just hard to imagine _any_ reality where his death would be futile. And I know he'd hate that, too. At least when I lost him it was because he sacrificed himself for a noble cause."

Janet put her arms around her and hugged her again. "Then that's how you should continue to remember him," she comforted, and Sam reciprocated the embrace.

"Hey, _hey!_" Sam exclaimed with a teary smile as she pulled away from her best friend. "I still can't believe I'm talking to you like this! There's so much I've wanted to share with you about what's happening in my life over the past year or so."

"Like?"

"Well like with…"

"Colonel O'Neill," Janet interrupted.

"That's right!" Sam bubbled.

"No, I mean _Colonel O'Neill_," Janet pointed as Sam turned around and noticed that Jack was standing directly behind her. Heaven only knows how much of their conversation he heard.

"Oh, uh, Colonel. Sir. What are you doing here? Are you sick or…something?" Sam asked clumsily.

"I'm not here because of me," he replied tersely.

"I think that stupid reactor's done _permanent_ damage to my arm…" a familiar voice complained in the background as Jack rolled his eyes impatiently.

Sam looked beyond Jack to the source of the whining and her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Are you _brain dead_ or something? A blast of energy that large can effectively…" the man interrupted himself mid-sentence as his eyes made contact with Sam's. "_Oh my God!_ Is it really you?" he asked excitedly as he rushed over and pulled Sam into an awkward embrace.

Sam cringed uncomfortably. "McKay…it's uh nice to see you, too," she lied as she tried to extricate herself from his grasp.

"I can't believe it! I mean, first I meet you, we work great together and develop some pretty serious sparks, if you know what I mean," Rodney nudged her with a grin and Sam winced. "And then, well, you died. And now look at us…it's like Kismet!" he babbled on, "like we have a second chance or something!" Then he tilted his head to the side and scowled at her. "What the _hell_ happened to your hair?"

Sam's eyes widened in astonishment of his nerve and complete lack of social graces. She was about to lob a fairly decent insult his way when she glanced down at his jacket and was stunned by what she saw. "_SG-1?_ McKay is a member of SG-1?"

"Okay, that's it," Jack interrupted, "Rodney, you stay here and let Fraiser take a look at your arm. Carter, you come with me."

Rodney walked over to where Janet was waiting for him with the medication he needed to treat the burn on his arm.

Sam whispered to Rodney almost inaudibly, "Sorry, McKay, duty calls." She could barely keep down the chuckle as she left the room with Jack.

"That's okay! I'll meet up with you…_Ow!_ Watch it!" Rodney screeched as the ointment was applied to his wound. "I actually need the full use of my arm, you know…"

* * *

Sam walked wordlessly next to Jack for several minutes as they headed toward the commissary. The silence continued as they went through the line and sat down together at a nearby table. Sam started in on her bowl of blue jello, but then she simply couldn't bear not knowing for one minute longer.

"Okay. I _have_ to know," she announced as her spoon clanged loudly against the edge of the bowl.

"Know what?"

"_Rodney McKay?_"

"Oh, that."

"You _chose_ McKay to be a member of SG-1?" Even though she was whispering, her tone of voice was clearly agitated.

"Well your use of the word 'chose' would definitely be considered a bit of an exaggeration."

"Okay. I'll word it differently. How _in the hell_ did that man end up on your team? As I remember it, he drove you completely nuts."

"Um, and _as I remember it_, the one he drove nuts around here was you, the way he kept putting you down and belittling your research. And now I know it was because of all that romantic tension between the two of you."

Sam chuckled, "Oh please, Jack."

Jack's eyebrows rose, "'_Jack_'?"

Sam's smile waned as she looked across the table and knew for the first time exactly how Doctor Carter felt all those years ago. He was Jack…but not _her_ Jack. "Sorry sir. This is a just little hard to get used to. Where I'm from, our relationship is a little, uh, different than the one you had with your Major Carter."

"Oh really? How so?"

Sam really didn't want to get into that part of her life right now and decided she needed a diversion. "Uh, it seems to me, _sir_, that you're evading my original question."

"About…"

"…About how McKay ended up on SG-1. I'll bet it's a doozy of a story," she grinned mischievously as she took in another spoonful of jello.

"No, not really," Jack admitted whimsically, and then clammed up.

"_Well?_" Sam prodded.

Jack sighed and gave in. "It's just that after you, after _she_ died, I had a hard time choosing a replacement. I dragged my feet a little too long and was given an ultimatum. Either McKay or some Russian yahoo. I chose McKay."

"Well, yeah, I guess under those conditions, I can see it happening then," she conceded. "But why was he considered in the first place?"

"It seems the brass was extremely impressed by the great job he did in rescuing Teal'c's energy pattern from the stargate's memory buffer three years ago."

Sam's eyes widened in surprise and then she became concerned. "That's not how it happened in my reality. McKay was more of a hindrance than anything else. If you're saying that, in this reality, he was a key player in Teal'c's rescue, then I need to rethink…"

"No, you got it right," Jack interrupted nonchalantly, alleviating her concerns.

"Then what would give them the impression that he was responsible for saving Teal'c?"

"Because they went by the report submitted by the NID; and that report made it look as though Rodney McKay could part the Red Sea," Jack explained. "It was their way of covering their collective asses for his contribution to Teal'c's rescue, or obvious lack thereof."

"But still, it must drive you crazy having him on your team," Sam shot back.

"He's a nice enough fellow once you get to know him," Jack defended Rodney, much to his surprise.

"No, I don't mean it like that. I mean…look. He had all sorts of ideas and theories; but I don't remember him being right _even once_," Sam added.

"Well he was right about the hair," Jack commented and Sam stopped mid-spoonful and scowled at him, surprised at his lack of couth and moderately irritated by the remark. "Let's be honest here, Carter, you're _doo_ is due for a touchup," she resumed eating, but continued glaring at him. Jack realized his faux pas, cleared his throat self-consciously and thought it best to change the subject. "Uh, about that topic you were avoiding earlier…" Jack asked.

Sam glowered at him for a few moments longer before responding. "What was that?"

"About you and your O'Neill?"

Sam took in a large spoonful of the jello and tried to come up with something to say; thankfully an Airman entered the commissary and interrupted the uncomfortable exchange.

"I'm sorry, sir, ma'am. General Hammond needs to see you both in the conference room right away."

"Thank you, Airman," Sam responded a little too quickly as she rose to her feet and turned back toward Jack. "Shall we, sir?" she grinned self-consciously.

"Dodged a bullet that time didn't you, Carter?" Jack asked as he stood up.

"You have _no_ idea," Sam confessed under her breath as they walked through the double doors and out of the room.

* * *

Sam, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c and McKay arrived in the conference room almost simultaneously. Sam's brow furrowed as she noticed and recognized the man in the orange jumpsuit with two armed MPs standing directly behind him, sitting next to General Hammond.

"Maybourne," Sam stated almost in question form as she made a mental note to be sure to tell her Jack all about what it was like to witness Harry Maybourne dressed in prison orange. He of all people would thoroughly get a kick out of it.

The man turned his head toward Sam. "Major Carter. _You're not dead_," Maybourne spoke in a monotone voice.

"Nice of you to notice," Sam shot back.

"Actually, that's Colonel Carter now," Jack corrected Maybourne as they all took their seats. Sam sat next to Jack and, much to her chagrin, Rodney picked the seat next to hers. He grinned sheepishly as he sat down and Sam smiled humorlessly in acknowledgement before averting her attention back to General Hammond.

"And how is it that we were able to get him here so quickly, sir?" Jack asked.

"When we took Maybourne into custody last year, I pulled some strings and made sure that he would be held in a facility close enough to us that if we needed him for some reason, we wouldn't have far to look," Hammond explained.

"You mean, sort of a '_keep your friends close…_' kind of thing, sir?" Jack expounded.

"Exactly."

"Ah," Jack understood Hammond's interest in keeping Maybourne in close proximity. It certainly made sense to keep him close by in case of an emergency; like the one they were facing now. He turned his head toward Maybourne and smiled impishly; he just couldn't help himself. "My, that's a lovely shade of orange you're wearing today, Harry."

"Why thank you, Jack. I'd love to say I picked it out myself but…"

"Enough with the pleasantries," Hammond interrupted impatiently. "Colonel Maybourne, you are here for one reason and one reason only; and that is to shed light on exactly what happened to the quantum mirror from P3X-233."

"The _quantum mirror_?" Maybourne turned toward Sam. "Ah, well then that explains the new and improved, _living-breathing_ Carter sitting here today."

"And how would that be possible, Colonel? I gave orders that that device was to be destroyed and was assured by high level officials that it had been," Hammond asked.

"And it was. _Officially_," Harry responded.

"Okay, here we go," Jack groaned as he leaned back into his chair, "so how about you tell us what happened to it _unofficially_?"

"Let me finish, Jack. Don't be so impatient," Harry needled him with a grin. Jack huffed his annoyance which pleased Harry to no end. "As I was saying, as soon as I got wind that Hammond wanted the device destroyed, I called in a few favors to ensure it would be shipped back to Area 51…"

"…and thus ensuring it would be under your control," Sam interrupted.

Harry smirked, "You are correct, Colonel."

"But I saw the footage of it being destroyed myself," Hammond interjected.

"No, what you saw was footage of a reasonable facsimile of the quantum mirror meeting an untimely demise," Harry explained.

"So, not quite as destroyed as we thought then," Jack chimed in.

"But if the real quantum mirror wasn't destroyed, what happened to it?" Daniel asked.

"That's a good question and I'm not entirely sure of the answer," Harry confessed.

"_Maybourne_," Jack warned.

"Now what exactly does that mean? I mean you can't actually lose something like a quantum mirror, now can you?" McKay asked, but no one responded. "No seriously, I don't really know what a quantum mirror is since no one here has actually told me anything about it, thus affectively leaving me out of the loop…again…" Rodney realized he was rambling. "Although I guess that's not really important right now and completely irrelevant at this point…"

"You should answer his question, Colonel," Hammond advised.

"At first we thought we could use the device to gather technology from other realities that would help us fight against the Goa'uld," Harry began.

"Much like you used the second stargate to clandestinely procure weapons and technology from our allies," Teal'c interposed.

"Yes. We began using the second stargate after we realized that the quantum mirror was an unpredictable and ill-tempered piece of technology. It was too difficult to re-dial the correct reality after the device had been disengaged."

"I didn't have any problem with it," Daniel offered.

"Yes, well, we lost several of our people making the attempts. So we decided that the quantum mirror was better suited as a _commodity_ to be bartered for more reliable technology; in this case for a Goa'uld long-range visual communication device."

"What? You traded the quantum mirror for a glorified _walkie-talkie_?" Jack roared.

"'Walkie-talkie', please. That's a bit of a stretch, Jack, even for you. You know how much more advanced their technology is than ours," Harry chided.

"Who ultimately ended up with it?" Sam asked.

"There were a couple of scientists who believed that they could modify the mirror to make it easier to pin-point a specific reality and make travel to and from much more reliable," Harry continued.

"And you just _gave_ it to them? For the Goa'uld 'walkie-talkie' thing?" McKay inquired.

"Our original intention was to wait until they had made the necessary revisions and then steal it back from them. Unfortunately, we didn't have the chance to sneak back and get it. Right after we got word the modifications had been made, Jack here shut our little operation down."

"Whoops. Now _that's_ timing for ya," Jack gloated.

"These scientists, do you remember who they were or where they were from?" Sam queried.

Maybourne shook his head, "Sorry Colonel." He was being sincere and she knew it. She sighed softly in irritation.

"But we don't really need to know who had it _originally_, do we?" Daniel posited. "I mean, think about it. All we _really_ needed to know was that it was possible for Sam to have come from an alternate reality by way of the quantum mirror; and we know that now, thanks to Maybourne's confession of bartering it to someone offworld."

"Daniel Jackson is correct. Now that we have confirmed that the device was never destroyed, we can assume that Bavis at some point found out about it and acquired it for his own use," Teal'c surmised.

"Yeah but when did he get the thing? Did he have knowledge of it before he captured Colonel Carter or is that how he learned about it?" Rodney queried the group.

"There's a more pressing issue at stake than finding out how he got it, Dr. McKay, and that's the fact that he still has it in his possession in one of his many strongholds and is currently using it to build up a substantial power base in our reality. We need to take that mirror back from him for the sake of our own security, in addition to the fact that it's the only way we can send Colonel Carter back home," Hammond announced.

"I appreciate your concern, sir, and don't get me wrong. I _do_ want to get back home. But as you said, Bavis has more than likely stashed the mirror on any one of his bases. Now perhaps after he has been overthrown, the people around him will feel free enough to talk to us and clue us in as to where he's hidden it; but the harsh truth is we might _never_ find the mirror and I may never get home. So it seems to me, sir, that the priority here _has_ to be removing Bavis as a threat in this or any other reality."

"And on that note, Colonel Carter," Hammond cut in, "I've made my decision regarding your involvement in the mission." All heads turned toward him in anticipation. "You have a go."

Sam smiled broadly, "Thank you, sir."

"Not so fast. There are a few stipulations to your joining SG-1. For instance, I understand from your debriefing that in your reality you now lead SG-1; but here Colonel O'Neill is still in charge and you need to respect his authority and his orders."

"Shouldn't be a problem, sir," Sam acknowledged.

"Very well," Hammond smiled at Sam. Then he changed the subject and focused his attention to Rodney. "Oh, and before I forget, Dr. McKay, you've done a magnificent job of ruffling the feathers of the elders from P2S-788."

"Um…thank you…sir?" Rodney grimaced and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Before you leave with the others, I want a detailed report on my desk on how you plan to help them rebuild the reactor you accidentally destroyed."

"Well, '_destroyed_' might be a bit of a…"

"Doctor," Hammond growled.

"Yes sir," Rodney whimpered. Sam turned her head so he wouldn't see her trying to suppress her giggling at his expense.

"You're all dismissed."

* * *

The stargate began spinning as SG-1 and SG-5 prepared to disembark. Sam finished securing the straps of her pack and was about to put her cap on when Jack noticed the change in her appearance and moved toward her. "So, Carter," Jack looked up at her head and grinned playfully, "that's a nice new _doo_ you're sporting there."

Carter smiled as she put her cap on, "Thank you, sir. This is actually how I normally wear it now."

Jack bowed his head contritely and paused before continuing, "You know, what I said earlier in the commissary about your hair…I may be dense sometimes, but even I knew I blew it with that one."

"It's really no big deal, sir," Sam's brow furrowed slightly, and she wondered why that little exchange between them earlier bothered him enough to mention it.

"It's just that you used to like to change your hair a lot, and…"

"You mean you noticed that?" she interrupted, a little surprised by his comment.

Jack looked at her ruefully as a faint grin tinged his mouth, "I _always_ noticed, Carter."

Sam smiled warmly at his gentle tone. Moments later, as she reached up to curl the rim of her cap, General Hammond entered the gateroom to see them all off safely. He stopped by Sam to speak to her first.

"Before I forget, Colonel," Hammond said as he approached her and put his hand on her shoulder supportively, "it's _damn_ fine to see you in that uniform again."

"I'll second that," Jack smirked.

"Thank you, sir. It was nice to see you in command here again, too."

"What do you mean? Am I not still in charge of the SGC in your reality?"

"Actually, no sir. I didn't include this in my report to you; but my General Hammond has been promoted to Lieutenant General and is now the head of our Home World Security."

"_Home World Security_?" Jack parroted her.

"Lieutenant General George Hammond. That has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Hammond glowed.

"Yes, sir, I do," Sam beamed back.

"But wait a minute, if he's gone, who's the new CO?" Jack asked as the stargate fully engaged. Sam didn't respond verbally; but rather with a look and a head bob, she communicated her answer before walking toward the event horizon.

"What? _Me?_ Are you serious?" Jack and the others began up the ramp after Sam and followed her through the stargate.

Within seconds they were all on the other side of the galaxy. Everyone crouched and had their P90's at the ready as they exited the stargate and saw a large group of Jaffa off in the distance. Sam silently directed everyone to the left, to the pillar that Novar and Kyle had instructed for the rendezvous. When they were all safely obscured by the overgrowth, Jack moved closer to Sam to talk to her privately.

"I thought there weren't supposed to be very many Jaffa near the gate," Jack softly groused.

"That was certainly what that had planned," Sam groaned. She knew Novar and Kyle's notion of being able to secure the gate for any extended period of time seemed too much like a pipe dream. "This development could have been caused by a couple of things. Either the Jaffa have elevated their security level because my escape didn't go exactly as planned or Bavis has returned from wherever he's been," Sam concluded.

"Or it could be a combination of the two," Jack continued.

"Yes, sir," she conceded as she reached into her pocket and retrieved the device Novar gave her.

"So what's the plan now, Colonel?" he whispered.

"I just activated the device my contacts gave me to alert them to our presence. So now we wait until we get a signal back from them that they're on their way."

"You mean we're just going to sit here and _wait_?"

"Yes sir, unless you can think of a way to take out 200 plus Jaffa without causing a scene."

"Okay, you've got a point there," Jack allowed.

Several long minutes passed by as he tried to come up with a way to talk to Sam about her life and her reality; more specifically about her relationship with her O'Neill. But every time he tried to broach the topic she had evaded so handily in the commissary, someone in their entourage would shift a little too close to their positions; and he'd stop. Now he decided he'd move in closer to Sam to where no one could hear their conversation. "So, uh, Carter; you never told me what the deal is between you and your O'Neill."

Sam did a double-take. "What…you want to talk about that _now_?"

"Well seeing as we aren't going anywhere for a while, yeah, why not."

Sam shifted her eyes awkwardly and frowned. "Okay. So what do you want to know?"

Jack tilted his head to the side. "Is there something about that particular topic that's making you feel a little, oh I don't know, uneasy?"

"No, no. That's not it," she tried to reassure him. "It's just that I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable; because, well, I have a _different_ relationship with my Jack O'Neill than you had with your Samantha Carter."

"Yeah, you said that already," he shot back quietly. "Care to _expand_ on that theme?"

Sam glanced around to make sure no one else could hear their whispered conversation. She couldn't believe that while on the verge of an extremely important and urgent military operation, she was actually going to sit there amid the trees and bushes and discuss her personal feelings about Jack with his other self. "Alright, if you really want to know," she sighed deeply as she leaned closer to him. "Up until shortly before the mission to P4J-989, Jack and I shared a very rank-appropriate, professional relationship."

Jack's eyebrows rose again at the use of his first name. "_'Jack'_?"

Sam nodded. "In fact I was engaged to a cop and he was dating this woman from the CIA."

"Oh really? From the CIA? Do tell," Jack egged her on but she refused to take the bait.

"The point is, we both tried to move past the feelings we had for each other by seeing other people and we both failed pretty spectacularly," she continued.

"This CIA gal, was she pretty?"

"Do you want to hear this or not?" she fussed at him quietly.

"Alright, alright. Go ahead."

"Then there was a whole series of events that neither of us could have predicted. First, Pete bought a house for us to live in after we got married. I had already been having doubts about our relationship for quite some time; but with the house…it was like all of the sudden I realized that I didn't really want to share a future with him; so I broke off the engagement."

"'Pete'? His name was _Pete_? Well that's a cute little name," Jack snipped sarcastically.

Sam glared at him impatiently.

"Sorry," he mouthed silently.

"Then General Hammond decided to retire to spend more time with his family and Jack was offered the chance to take over at Home World Security. And that's when things really changed between us."

"Because I, I mean _he_ was no longer your CO."

"Exactly."

"So…how did things change, _exactly_?"

Sam shifted awkwardly and cleared her throat self-consciously, "Well, he…kissed me…and then he told me he was in love with me."

Jack just stared at her for a moment. "_Really_?"

Sam grinned uncomfortably.

"Was it a _good_ kiss?"

Sam nodded frenetically.

"Wow. Imagine that." They avoided eye contact and several long moments passed before either of them spoke again. "This is a little awkward."

"Ooh, it's definitely getting there," Sam squirmed as Rodney came over and tapped her on the shoulder.

"I think I heard something," Rodney whispered nervously. Sam scowled as she and Jack edged closer to the area Rodney was pointing toward. The ground rustled and everyone aimed their P90's at the source of the disruption. Moments later, they all heard what sounded like a latch unhooking as a trap door opened from the ground and Novar and Kyle bobbed up from a hidden underground tunnel.

"_Hold your fire!_" Sam announced softly as she held up her hand.

"I take it these are your contacts then?"

"Yes, sir," she replied as she helped pull Novar up from the entrance of the tunnel.

As Jack was assisting Kyle, he had a small spark of recognition. "Hey, I know you."

"Colonel O'Neill. It's good to see you again, sir. You remember Novar, or as you knew him, Captain Nelson."

"Nelson! Right! From that Apophis training camp thing. And you're…wait, don't tell me. It's Carl, right?"

Kyle was amused by the fact that Jack made the same mistake Sam had made and smiled. "Actually it's _Kyle_, Captain Kyle Rogers, to be exact. Either that or you can call me by my true name, Rafyatre."

Jack stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "But I can still call you Kyle, right?"

Kyle chuckled, "Yes, sir."

Jack nodded and turned to Sam, with a slight look of irritation on his face. "So Carter, why didn't you _tell_ me who your contacts were?"

"Didn't I? Sorry sir, I thought I had," she grinned sheepishly.

"We have all of the material you requested at our base of operation, Colonel Carter," Novar announced. "Please follow us," he requested as he climbed back down into the tunnel.

"What…you mean you want us to sit in a hole and _chat_?"

"This isn't just a hole, Colonel O'Neill. It's an entrance to our tunnel system. We started developing it about two years ago when the last Goa'uld was in power and continued working on it when Bavis killed him and took his place a couple months ago," Novar explained. "In fact, you'll be happy to know that we've completed a part of the tunnel system that will give us direct entry into the base." He turned to Sam and continued, "we would have used that during your escape the other day, Colonel Carter, but it hadn't been completed yet."

"We should leave now. I don't know how much longer we can safely stay here," Kyle cautioned as he jumped down into the entrance of the tunnel network. O'Neill nodded and the entire SG entourage followed them into the ground.

Almost twenty minutes passed before they reached topside. Craissa was there to assist them out of the tunnel. Jack was the first to be pulled out. "Ah! It's good to see you all. And you must be Colonel O'Neill, yes?"

"Carter?" he asked as he reached down for her.

"This is Craissa. He's a scientist on this world."

"Ah."

Novar and Kyle were the last two out of the tunnel. "All of the intelligence we've gathered against Bavis is over there," Kyle pointed to a large table against the wall covered with maps and plans.

Sam took a look at all of the maps, charts and data they had generated and smiled. "Good work, you two."

"We have some news for you, Colonel Carter. Bavis has returned; and from what I've gathered from some of the Jaffa in his charge, he is planning to launch an assault on a place called Dakara."

"Oh my God," Carter exclaimed softly.

"_Dakara_?" Teal'c frowned.

"What's this Dakara?" Jack asked.

"It is the holiest of all sites to the Jaffa. The temple of Dakara is the location of the first prim'tah ritual," Teal'c explained.

"So why would Bavis be interested in this place?"

"Sir, in my reality, the Jaffa took back control of Dakara from the Goa'uld."

"Taking Dakara would do a great deal to solidify support for the Jaffa rebellion," Teal'c added.

"It looks like he's going to ensure that the Jaffa rebellion fails in this reality. But I'm guessing there's another reason he's interested in Dakara; and believe it or not, it's significantly worse," Sam deduced.

"Carter?" Jack questioned.

"Bavis wants to gain control over a weapon hidden on Dakara that was created by the ancients. We found it and modified it to get rid of all of the replicators in our galaxy," she continued.

"What, no more bugs? That can't be a bad thing," Jack noted.

"You don't understand, sir. That weapon has the ability to eliminate _all life_ in the galaxy. I know how to use it; and now, because he took all my knowledge, he knows how to use it too."

"_Whoa,_" Jack was speechless for a moment. "Well we knew he'd use your knowledge against us; I just didn't realize he'd take out the big guns so quickly."

"You have no idea, sir. It's now _imperative_ that we succeed; the fate of the entire galaxy rests on our shoulders."

"Okay. No pressure," Jack commented sardonically.

Sam continued looking over the planning material and was busy chattering with Kyle and Novar, when Craissa came into the room with a bunch of food. "I thought you all might be hungry," Craissa offered.

"I could use a bite," Jack mentioned.

"I am hungry as well," Teal'c added as they all retired to the dining area and began eating.

After a few minutes of feasting on the incredible meal Craissa provided, Jack turned to Sam who was sitting next to him and grinned impishly. "So Carter, I take it you already have a plan in mind?"

"As a matter of fact I do," Sam answered as she was chewing.

"Care to share it with rest of the class?"

Sam smirked. "Well, we're going to go in, blow the place up, kill Bavis and leave."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "_That's it?_ That's the plan?"

"Elegant in its simplicity, don't you think?" Sam quipped.

Jack remembered back to when he had used that same line on the team several years ago and smiled. "I think you've been spending too much time around me. I mean him. Your O'Neill. I meant to say...your O'Neill," he rambled on for a minute, confusing himself as he went. But Sam missed out on most of it as she was busy directing everyone's attention back over to their planning area.

"We're going to enter the complex using their tunnel system and place timed charges here and here," she pointed to specific areas on the map. "Then, we're going to ring up into Bavis's ship, and place more charges here, here and here. Now, according to Novar, each of these locations has enough ordnance to generate some pretty substantial secondary explosions and should take out most of the Jaffa's weapons stash. Hopefully, we can ring out and egress back through the tunnel system. We blow the charges, which will be Novar's cue to launch a ground attack with his combined forces from here and here with SG-5 as backup," she pointed to two spots on the map, one on either side of the complex.

"Not bad, Colonel, not bad at all," Jack congratulated her. "But what's your backup scenario in case things don't go as planned?"

"And when do things not go as planned?" Sam joked with a straight face.

"Um, _all the time_," he shot back.

Sam grinned. "Don't worry, Colonel. I've come up with several contingency plans on the 'off chance' that something does go wrong."

Jack looked back down at the map and then turned to face everyone in the room. "Okay, kids. The operation will commence in the early a.m. That should give us a chance to finalize any last minute details and hopefully even allow for a little shut eye. Let's synchronize our watches for…"

Just then, a panicked man ran into the room and whispered something in Kyle's ear. His countenance fell as he rushed over toward Craissa and helped him gather some materials.

"What's going on, Kyle?" Jack inquired.

"Jerec, one of our scouts, just reported to me that Bavis has learned of Craissa's betrayal and has hired hunters to find and kill him," Kyle replied as Novar opened the trap door and helped a very nervous Craissa down into it with some supplies.

"What exactly did Craissa do?" Sam asked, concerned for the wellbeing of her new acquaintance.

"I'm afraid that will have to wait, Colonel Carter, as Jerec also delivered other, more pressing news. It appears we don't have as much time to prepare as we had originally thought. According to Jerec, Bavis plans to launch for Dakara before morning."

Jack turned to Sam. "You know Carter, this might actually fall into that 'something going wrong' category. What do you think?"

Two hours later, the trap door on the floor of a storage room in Bavis' compound eased open a crack, as Jack used a small, extended mirror to check to see if they could safely exit the tunnel. Once he realized the coast was clear, the door swung all the way open and everyone quickly left the tunnel system and rendezvoused at the door. Jack peeked through the door to see if anyone was coming. Again, all clear. He then gestured to the others that he, Sam and Kyle would head left, Teal'c, McKay and Daniel would go right. Slowly they edged out of the room and down their respective corridors, armed primarily with zats while in stealth mode, and secondarily with P90's in case stealth was no longer a factor.

Kyle took point and Jack and Sam covered their six as they cautiously eased down the hallway and turned left to their first target, the western armory. Jack and Kyle stood guard at the door as Sam placed the first charge. As they were about to leave the room, Jack's radio ticked twice; which was a signal that someone wanted to speak to him and was checking first to see if he could talk freely. Sam and Jack frowned at each other, both wondering what would cause their teammates to break radio silence.

"O'Neill," he whispered into the comm.

"Jack, this is McKay," Rodney announced.

"What is it, Rodney?" he asked impatiently.

"Well, it seems Daniel found something that might be of interest to you," McKay advised.

"Did you place the charges _or not_, McKay?" Jack interrupted with annoyance.

"Um, yeah we did, Jack," Daniel interjected, "but I don't think you're going to want to blow them."

"And why the hell not?"

"Because it's _here_; we found it," Daniel added.

"Found _what_?" Jack asked, but only heard static. "Daniel, we don't have time for this. What did you find?" More static.

Sam reached up and tried her comm. "Teal'c, this is Sam, can you hear me?" No one responded.

"_Dammit_," Jack exclaimed under his breath. "Seems like we have yet another addition for the 'something going wrong' list." Jack exhaled sharply. "We have no choice; we have to proceed as planned."

"Agreed," Sam replied as they moved out and headed toward the RV point: the northern ring room.

As they turned left out of the armory, Sam saw two Jaffa and pulled back, but not in time. They both saw her and started running her way. Sam rolled out and began firing her zat from the floor as Jack and Kyle leaned down to the right and backed her up. Both Jaffa dropped to the ground within seconds, but not before Kyle's leg was grazed by a staff blast.

"You okay, Kyle?" Sam asked, concerned.

"Just a flesh wound, ma'am," Kyle assured her.

"I think what Carter wants to know is, can you make it? You are, after all our guide here."

"Yes, sir. I'll be fine," Kyle stated affirmatively.

"Alright, then, let's get these Jaffa moved out of sight," Jack ordered, recognizing the need to hide the unconscious bodies from any patrols that might accidentally find them. All three assisted in relocating the bodies into the armory before continuing toward the ring room.

A few minutes later they reached the ring room, which was surprisingly lacking a strong Jaffa presence. Only seven guards. And they were positioned in such a way that Sam, Jack and Kyle were able to dispatch them without taking any significant return fire. As Jack dragged the last body behind one of the posts well out sight, a familiar person stuck his head out of a duct in the corridor.

"Jack!" he whispered loudly, scaring Jack half to death.

"_McKay!_ What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was _hiding_; I thought that was pretty obvious," McKay explained as he crawled out of his hiding place.

Kyle and Sam came around the corner and was likewise surprised to see Rodney there. "McKay!" Sam exclaimed. "Where are Teal'c and Daniel?"

"I'm afraid they were, ah, captured by Bavis's Jaffa and taken up to his ship," Rodney admitted.

"And I'm sure you did everything in your power to help them out," Jack shot back sarcastically.

"What the hell was I _supposed_ to do? There were ten Jaffa; they were surrounded!"

"It doesn't matter," Kyle interjected, somewhat agitated. "But now we have to rescue the others before we can set the charges on the ship."

"Yeah well there's a problem there too," McKay complained. "Daniel never had a chance to tell you what we found."

"What?" Sam asked impatiently.

"We found _it_," Rodney explained as Sam shook her head, still confused. "_The quantum mirror_. It's on this base."

Sam's eyes widened in disbelief.

* * *

General Jack O'Neill stood motionless at the entryway of the SG-1 team locker room and stared blankly into to the darkness. After several long moments, he slowly strolled into the room and over toward where Sam's jacket was hanging. Wordlessly, his fingers traced over the letters of her name. He sighed deeply and winced as he peeled the nameplate off.

Then he wandered over to Sam's locker and slowly opened the door. His gaze lingered over the surface of the contents of her locker, most of which was standard Air Force issue, including her backup pistol, some ammo and a heather grey t-shirt with the words "Air Force" printed in dark black on the front.

But what really captured his attention were the personal items hanging on the inside of the door. There was a drawing Cassie had made years ago; probably from when she first arrived on the base. Then there were the photos. One of her with her father, another with her brother Mark and his son and a third picture of her with Jack, which had to have been taken at least 4 years ago, by the looks of her hair. He remembered the events that surrounded the taking of that particular picture vividly. He was kidding around with her at the time, really hamming it up. Daniel just so happened to have his camera handy and snapped a shot of him dipping her like in a tango dance. They were all laughing hysterically at the time and could barely hold the pose long enough for Daniel to take the shot. Jack smiled ruefully as he reached up and retrieved the photo from her locker door and stared at it mindlessly for several moments. Finally he tucked it into his shirt pocket.

Not paying attention to what he was doing, he closed the door to her locker on his thumb and yelped in pain.

"_Dammit!_" he yelled as he slammed the door to her locker over and over again, causing the other pictures that had been attached to the door to fall haphazardly to the floor. Finally he stopped and leaned into his arm against the adjoining locker and took several long, deep breaths.

"O'Neill," Teal'c's voice echoed from the doorway.

Jack remained stationary for a moment before daring to speak. "SG-12 just returned from the last planet on Daniel's list."

Teal'c walked in the room and put his hand comfortingly on Jack's shoulder.

"She's not coming back, is she?" Jack asked sorrowfully.

Teal'c clenched his jaw as he considered how to word his response. "It no longer seems likely."

Jack nodded into his arm, still resting against the locker. "What am I going to do, Teal'c?" Jack asked with a defeated tone of voice and then turned around toward his friend.

"You are going to go to Washington and move on with your life," Teal'c encouraged.

"What if I don't _want_ to move on?"

"What alternatives do you currently have?"

Jack chuckled humorlessly, "I guess I don't have any."

"Do you believe that Colonel Carter would want your life to stagnate because of her?"

Jack looked down at the scattered photos on the floor. "No. I'm sure she'd hate that."

"And what do you believe she would want for you?"

Jack paused again before responding. "I think she'd want me to find some kind of fulfillment in my life…without her."

"Then you have your answer, O'Neill. You are going to go to Washington DC and take over Home World Security as you had planned. And you are going to find fulfillment in your job and in your life. You are going to honor her memory by doing exactly what she would want you to do."

"Without her," Jack added somberly.

Teal'c frowned. "Yes. Without her."

"Excuse me, sirs," Sergeant Harriman stood in the door way and recognized he was interrupting an emotional conversation; but he had no choice.

Jack and Teal'c finally turned and acknowledged him. "What is it, Walter?"

"I'm sorry sir, but we've received an urgent phone call."

Jack pursed his lips as he realized it was probably the Pentagon trying to reach him again. But this time, he was ready to take the call. "Thank you, Walter. Tell them I'll be right with them."

"Um, actually, sir, the call's for Teal'c."

Jack's eyes widened in amazement. "For Teal'c? Who is it?"

"She said her name is Ally, sir."

"Ally?" Teal'c was surprised by the name he hadn't heard for many years.

"Yes, sir. She said her mother's been killed and she needs your help."

Teal'c turned back toward Jack. "O'Neill, if you no longer require my…"

"Go…take her call," he directed him and Teal'c rushed out of the room. Walter was about to follow when Jack stopped him.

"Sergeant?"

"Yes, sir?"

Jack looked back at Sam's locker door, then down to the pictures on the floor before turning and facing Sergeant Harriman. "Do me a favor…get General Ransom on the line for me."

* * *

Colonel O'Neill, Sam, Kyle and McKay used the ring device to transport to Bavis's ship and positioned themselves to take out any Jaffa waiting for them, of which there were only six. As they hid the last body, they felt an odd rumbling and Jack turned to Sam for an answer, although he had already figured it out for himself.

"We're launching, aren't we?" Jack surmised.

"Yes, sir," Sam confirmed.

"Well, this changes things a little bit," Rodney offered.

"You know, Carter, that list we were talking about earlier is getting a tad long for my taste."

"Yes, sir," she agreed regretfully.

Jack leaned against the wall and crept down the side as the others followed. He led them down one corridor, and then another, until they reached what appeared to be a storage facility, filled with various cartons and cases. After they were safely in the room and had closed the door, they all heard an odd beeping sound emanating from Sam's pocket. She frowned in confusion until she remembered that that's where she had stashed the device Novar gave to her.

"I believe Novar is trying to contact you, Colonel," Kyle notified her.

Sam retrieved the device and then pressed the right button. "This is Carter."

"_Colonel Carter!_" Novar screamed from the other end over the sound of explosions and gunfire. "Please _blow the charges!_"

"Say again?"

"The Jaffa have discovered our position and are sending word back to the compound for reinforcements. If you don't set off the charges now, we'll all be _slaughtered_!" he continued, clearly panicked and breathless from running.

"Colonel Carter, you must blow the charges _now _orwe'll be out of range!" Kyle urged frantically.

Rodney grabbed her arm to stop her, "But if you take out the base, then you're also going to be blowing up the quantum mirror…"

"…and with it, my only chance to get back to my reality. _I know_." Sam lowered her head to think for just a moment and then looked up at Jack for any support, verbal or otherwise. She didn't really need it though; she already knew what she was going to do.

Sam reached into her vest pocket and pulled out the remote; and with a deep breath, she closed her eyes and pressed the button, setting off the charges.

A few minutes later, Novar's long-range comm device beeped again, and Sam activated it.

"_You did it!_" Novar hollered over the roar of a cheering crowd. "The Jaffa inside the compound are all gone; and we've cornered the one's left outside. Victory is ours! _Thank you,_ Colonel Carter!"

"I'm glad you're all okay," Sam replied with a monotone voice as she looked up at Jack, who eyed her sympathetically. The ship shook again and Sam realized that they had entered hyperspace. "We'd better get moving, sir," she murmured as she moved toward the doorway.

Jack held her arm. "Carter. Sam. For what it's worth…I'm sorry."

And with that gesture of kindness from this O'Neill, Colonel O'Neill, Sam faced the stark reality that she would never see her Jack again.

To Be Continued>>


End file.
